For milenia, philosophers have grappled with this one. It seems as though there are three opposing camps: 1) We are born essentially good 2) Fundamentally speaking, we are innately evil 3) We start out neutrally (tabula rasa translates to something like clean slate or blank slate).

Babies are blank pages and become what their socialisation processes make them. We learn to be good or bad, we are nothing to begin with. Because a baby looks sweet and innocent don't think that makes them sweet and innocent. They are neither good nor bad.

They are innocent because nothing has got to them yet. Parents are gthe first influence that determines if a child will grow up knowing right from wrong, next is peer pressure - possibly the strongest influence of all (we all want to be accepted by our peers), then there is school. Outside influences include the media - film, TV, newspapers and magazines

Some psychologists may say that but they are in a tiny little minority. A Freudian or a Jungian would disagree with you completely. The psyche and the ego is formed after birth - some believe the development begins while still in the womb. Social psychologists would dismiss you as a raving lunatic for saying what you did. Sociologists would burn you at a stake

Experiments with music have shown that music can affect the IQ of a baby while still in the womb. Children were played different types of music while still in the womb and the results were amazing. Particularly those children who had classical music and those who had had heavy metal music played to them developed much faster than the others. All babies who had been played music while still in the womb (except for those who had been played country and western) were able to learn and develop much quicker than the control group who had not been played any music at all. The ones who had been played country and western music seemed to be much slower in picking up things such as movement and language than any of the others, including the control group. those who had been played classical music were calmer and more methodical while those who had been played heavy metal were more go-getters and movers and shakers!

Similar results were found when fathers talked to their children by placing their lips against the mothers' stomachs and talking to their children. These children were calmer and happier and developed faster than those children of the control group (the ones who had not been spoken to by their fathers) They also bonded better with their fathers.

Children in the womb are affected by their mothers' emotions and what their mothers eat or drink. Mothers tend to be more emotional during their first pregnancy and more relaxed during their second - for some reason this tends to mean the eldest tend to be more highly strung and the younger ones tend to be more laid back. Parents have learnt about being parents bringing up the older child and are more competent in rearing subsequent children

Older siblings also have an affect on the development of children. Older siblings may be loving and dote on their younger brothers or sisters or they may be upset about there being another child to take away their parents' attention leading to bad feeling and bullying.

Younger siblings sometimes have an advantage at school if their older sibling helps them to cope.